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Monday, February 18, 2013

Choosing Adventure, Part 3

February Caretaking

February was a much needed break from
the high intensity of January. Derek and I drove south again to the more
moderate temperatures in North Carolina and stayed in an actual
house while we acted as temporary caretakers of the NCOBS Table Rock Base Camp. I enjoyed hot showers, a heated bedroom, a private toilet, and
finally some real rest. We reset the school's bouldering cave during
poor weather and climbed the many faces of Table Rock during good
weather. I didn't do much growing, but I did do a bit of thinking.
The conclusion I came to at the end of the month was that I needed to
set my own climbing objectives, not just tag along for Derek's. I
needed to start leading.

The Open Road... and Sam Latone

After our month of rest, Derek and I
drove west, across the mind-numbingly boring, brown flatlands of the
great plains into the sun scorched terrain of the Southwestern United
States.

In Red Rock, Nevada, Derek and I were
joined by our close friend Sam Latone. I think the fact that Sam was
totally stoked to join our road trip, knowing that our living space
comprised of one Toyota Matrix and one 3-person tent, demonstrates
both the strength of our friendships as well as our overall
stupidity. We made it maybe one night before we ran to Walmart so Sam
could have his own tent.

We did a little bit of everything
while camping out in the Nevada desert. I led a couple of easy lines while Sam, an experienced sport climber, started really pushing himself into traditional routes. Derek was constantly thinking of his upcoming
exam and practiced every skill he could. He guided Sam and I up long
multi-pitch routes, short-roped us around varied terrain, and ran the
45 minute drill as frequently as he could convince either Sam or I to
hang in a harness during that time.

Sam and I spent a lot of time hanging
out together, literally, as we hung in our harnesses at multi-pitch
belays watching Derek lead off into the sky. We talked about
everything and anything that came to mind. Frequently, we talked
about my climbing, specifically my poor “lead head” – and how
easily I got sketched out when leading routes. We also talked about
how climbing wasn't really fun for me anymore, because I was so
stressed out about my poor lead head, about not being a good climber.
It was Sam's idea to stop focusing on fixing my fears and start focusing on
just having fun. Get back to enjoying climbing. That was a kind of a
break through for me – to focus on climbing for fun. I am so
grateful to Sam for that and for all of the crazy conversations we
had while dangling hundreds of feet in the air.

Sam and I ready to rappel after one of Derek's awesome mutli-pitch leads.

Sometimes while we were in the desert,
the wind would really pick up. This was in no way fun. Our tent would
flatten against our faces in the night, or during the day we would be
blown around while climbing. One of these wind storms happened
as our trio summitted the upper Solar Slab in Oak Creek Canyon.
Derek's desire to practice short-roping became a practice in reality,
as the easily 60 mph winds on the summit disturbed my balance and
sent me into waves of dizziness. Derek kept me tethered to him, guided my steps, and guarded my safety as we went up and over the summit to the descent on the other side. When these high winds hit during the
night, I burroughed deep into my sleeping bag, wrapped my head up in a
hat to block out the noise, and pretended to sleep. I did not acknowledge how much the wind was
really bothering me. It was just the wind. Why should it bother me? It was just wind.

Our time at Red Rock went quickly, and
soon we needed to head towards Joshua Tree to give Derek time to
prepare for his exam on the actual terrain he would be tested. We
crowded into our overloaded Matrix, lacking any visibility for the
piles of stuff forced into the hatch-back, and drove across the
bleak Mojave Desert to California.